Repaints and things

[pngmangi]

So I've been wondering how all these repaints are done for YS. Is it easy? How easily can you get started on doing it yourself? Can I do it on a Mac? I'm interested in trying it out, if at all possible. I've been wanting to design some of my own aircraft liveries and maybe replicating some already existing ones. Anyway, if you have any advice, bring it on!
Thanks!

[Barr]

Painting is real easy in blender. It basically consists of selecting faces of the mesh/airplane that you want to paint, selecting a color and hitting the "set vcol" button.
But painting the stock mesh will only give you a basic canvas. If you want to make some curvy stripes or different shapes you would need to cut the mesh so you desired design is imprinted into the mesh itself.

If you check out decaffs website. He has many good and informative videos and guides that will help you learn!
https://sites.google.com/site/ysdecaff/home

I'd also recommend you read the stickies in the add-on creation forum. Loads and loads of information is available.
viewforum.php?f=147


Here's the link to the ysblender setup. Since the scripts are still being updated we use the 2.49b version.
viewtopic.php?f=147&t=2709

And of course if you ever get stuck or if you're having trouble understanding a few things, do not hesitate to post up and ask, there are no dumb questions. Lots of expert and friendly modders are available to help you out.

[NightRaven]

For starters, there are a few links in the sidebar under Add-on Creation. For mod creation in general, decaff's video tutorials are the must-go-to for learning how to mod, as they teach you the basic usage of the programs involved. There's also our tutorial subforum located in the Addon Creation subforum that is crammed full of tutorials that add helpful tips and references. All of the stuff you need are already here, you just need to dig a little to get what you need.

In general, if you use Blender, yes you can use a Mac for modding, as it is available for use on the three major desktop platforms.

The difficulty of modding varies from project to project, and also depends on your experience level. For repaints like you mentioned, they are the simplest things to do to get a complete model. However, if you tried it yourself now with (I'm assuming) next to no experience, you may find it cumbersome and confusing. So yeah, baby steps. It's a bit like a relationship; don't rush into it hoping the get the best results immediately, take your time to build your skills as you progress and you will savour the results when you finally get there. Don't be discouraged if you hit snags, we're always here to help.

edit: sniped by barra. I don't think I took 10 minutes typing this out tho

[decaff_42]

Hello fellow Mac user! To answer your basic question, yes. You can totally do repaints and other aircraft modding on a Mac. For a long time I used a virtual machine to use DNMViewer to test any animations I created, but with Soji's release of Polygon Crest, I can do everything from modeling to testing to flying all natively on my Mac.

My learn to use blender seriesshould help you through the absolute basics. The videos on my YouTube channel are old, but should still be valid.

When you get a little further into painting and start working with decals, I'd recommend skipping the early shrinkwrapping videos in favor of the later ones as these later ones are both easier and more accurate. The text tutorial on my website should also be a good starting point for this.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me!

[plunderbird]

You can do repaints in Notebook, or the Mac thing that's like it. Download either of my packs, to see the type of thing you can get. It's basic I know, but some peole like basic stuff.

[dbd000]

You can do repaints in Notebook, or the Mac thing that's like it.

You mean TextEdit? I find blender to be the better choice on a Mac as you can see what you are doing.

[pngmangi]

Wow, thanks everyone! Now I'm wondering about making maps. How exactly does that work? Is it also blender, or is there something else?

[NightRaven]

Maps have to be made in Scenery Editor. Similarly, tutorials (text and videos) can be found on decaff's site, while the program can be found on ysflight.com.

[pngmangi]

Can someone give me a link to where I can download the Mac version of Scenery Editor? I can't seem to find it